Oh, did I mention the other time that each chapter will switch off point of views? That's right ... I hope you enjoy this one in Edward's POV!
"I am telling you, it is strange," Edward insisted to his sister, the princess Alice as they rode through the fields surrounding their castle. It was a ritual of theirs, something they would do rather frequently. Any time they need to escape the confines of their lives, the horrendous pressures of being royalty, they found a way to slip away from the world and hide safely out among these fields, and allow themselves, then, to speak freely without fear of being over heard and word spreading like wildfire throughout the kingdom. Ladies of the court loved to gossip whenever they could get their hands on anything even the most remote bit intriguing.
Alice was just rolling her eyes at her finicky brother. "Not really. Most other castles as the same thing of their servants, to keep hidden and all. So it's like magic when you walk in and everything is where it's supposed to be. I know some say it's so our eye's aren't tainted by the unsavory common folk and that means we can better deal with them when they come to us with plea's for things that we must hear and heed, but, brother, you know I do not feel that way yet at the same time, I don't see why it is so strange for them to stay hidden," she said to him, explaining her position on the matter they were discussing.
Edward just shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Alice, you're not understanding me. Don't you think it's strange that they live and work for us, make specialty meals based on who's best at it, and yet we never meet the people responsible? Shouldn't we be thanking them for their hard work at the castle or something? I just feel so ungrateful all the time, and it's strange, to know that there are people that could very well be moving through the walls, right past us, and we don't even know it because they have been taught to move silently when traveling through the castle?" he said to her before sighing in exasperation, "For god's sake, I only know we have some because how else could everything be taken care of?"
"So what would you do, then? Hmm? Just have servants roaming about as they please? You know I am for equal rights more than anyone else, but you have to see how strange you are sounding at this moment," Alice said, trying to get her brother to see the reason in the situation at hand.
All he could do was shake his head at his sister. "Maybe I don't think that they should be commonly seen, allowed to roam whenever and wherever they like, but, I don't think they should be taught that to be seen by the royal family, or any visiting lords and ladies or whatever, is a crime that they can be punished for. I do not want to be feared by the very people that take care of all of the things I do not have the time to do myself," he said to his sister before taking a little bit of a breath, "Though I suppose you wouldn't understand in the same way. You aren't going to have to be on the throne one day," he said.
Suddenly he felt something hit the back of his head and Edward turned to look at his sister with a raised eyebrow, seeing the woman sitting atop her horse with her hands planted fireclay at her hips, a glare the prominent feature on her face. "How do you know I won't be the one on the thrown some day? How do you know you aren't going to get yourself killed by going into some random battle in some random war? Hmmm? And then how is the country going to fair? Fantastically, that's how. Admit it, you're lost without me," Alice said to her brother smugly.
All Edward could do was chuckle at the sight before him. "I admit it, I would be lost without you. Now … let's cut this conversation short. I know we said we wouldn't be back to the castle for a couple of hours, but I would like to retire early tonight, I think, so it be best we head back to the castle walls for the day. Tomorrow at the same time?" Edward questioned his sister, and seeing the petite woman nod, he smiled, grinning at her. "Race you back there," he stated simply before taking off at top speed with his horse.
His sister let out a squeak of protest behind him before he heard her horse following him as they hurried back to the castle, both of them unable to stop smiling and laughing in the situation at hand. There was no really good reason for this whole situation to be so entertaining, but for some reason, it was, and he just couldn't help but enjoy himself.
Once back inside the castle walls, they brought their horses to the stable and left them with the capable hands of the stable master. The people that worked with any animals were allowed to be seen by the royals, but only so they would know their animals were being cared for well and that these were respectable people. Or maybe it was because it would be too difficult to figure out a way to make it work where they were never seen. Edward could only imagine what it would be like if the stable hands weren't allowed to be seen, how on earth would they manage all the horses, then? That must be the reason they were allowed to be seen, but house staff weren't.
Sighing a little bit as the whole situation still seemed to bother him, Edward walked into the castle and headed up towards his room in his maroon garb, wondering how many people were walking through the walls at the moment, silently going about their duties that made it possible for him and his family to live so simply. Edward had never imagined that he would catch one of the staff when he wasn't supposed to, so it was a shock to him when he opened his bedroom door silently and saw a young, beautiful, woman sitting there as she worked on putting away freshly washed cloths of his.
He could tell that she knew he had entered the room by the way he had seen her stiffen, and so he decided to move around a bit, ignore her, but his eyes went back to the beauty kneeling by his drawers as she quickly put his cloths away.
She was dressed simply, so obviously one of the servants. As well as the fact that she was putting away his cloths. Her skin was extremely pale, probably because she spent all her time indoors and out of sunlight since she was constantly avoiding being seen or heard. But it was a beautiful sort of pale, the sort of pale that the court ladies tried to obtain and often times just ended up looking pasty and mal nurioused. But this girl, it was almost as if he could imagine her skin shining in moonlight or something like that.
Her hair was down, and it flowed like a chocolate waterfall down her back, resting at the small of her back. Edward found himself wanting to run his fingers through it, see if it really felt as silky as it looked. Once again, it was the sort of affect that court ladies tried to obtain, tried to ustalize so they could draw him or other nobel men into their spider webs, but no woman he had seen before could compare to her. Studying her a little bit more, he noticed she seemed to be shaking a little bit and he frowned, just for a moment.
This girl must think that he was going to get in trouble. He could never do that to such a beautiful, delicate creature. He studied her face as much as he could from the place he was standing by the door. It was heart shaped, he could tell, and her lips were plump and he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them. Her nose was adorable, and her eyes … her eyes were a beautiful big brown. And he wished he could stare into them for a moment, study her. He wondered if they would lead him down to her soul like they appeared to be able to do. At this moment, he felt perplexed, why on earth would they want to hide a beautiful creature like this from the royals? Anyone fortunate to look upon someone as beautiful as this girl, he knew they were fortunate.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard her gentle voice, the sound of a perfectly designed wind chime dancing in the wind, and he couldn't help but wonder what her name was. Maybe … maybe if he learned her name he could find her again, since he knew she certainly wouldn't ever want to be caught by a royal again, she looked terrified as she tried to slip past him to the hallway.
"Wait," he said to her, knowing that she would stop and face him.
"Yes, your majesty?" she said, her gentle voice music to his ears, but he could sense the fear in her voice. Before he could rid her of her worries, he had to know her name.
"What's … what's your name? I never see any of the servants here," he said, trying to think of whether or not he could place her for some reason. He didn't like the worried look on her face, and he knew that it sounded like he might be going to get her in trouble, and that was the reason he was asking her name, not because he was completely enchanted by her and wanted to learn more about her, learn everything he could about this beauty.
"Isabella Swan, your majesty. And I must go before they wonder where I am. I do hope your clothing has been cleaned to your satisfaction," the girl said to him softly, making him smile a little bit. Isabella. It suited her.
"Isabella. What a pretty name," he said, wanting to see what it felt like to say her name, what it tasted like on his tongue. He found he liked the way it felt there, the way it sounded. Then he remembered she probably had work to do, as she had even told him as much, and he wanted to assure her he wouldn't do anything to get her in trouble, "I won't tell on you," he said, "It's my fault. I came back early. I know you were taught that we're not supposed to see you. Have a good day, Isabella, and I know my clothing will be cleaned beyond what is expected," he informed her, smiling gently at her and hoping that he was reassuring her.
"Thank you, your majesty. Have a wonderful night, your majesty," she said to him in her sweet, musical voice. And he watched her leave, slipping off into the walls to head towards her next destination, leaving him in a sort of trance that awed him. He stepped into his room a moment and sat himself down on his bed. That woman was enchanting. And he wanted more of her, he wanted to see her again, but that would never happen. At least not by chance. He would have to do something, he would have to make it happen, and otherwise he might never see the beautiful Isabella Swan again.
Edward could care less that she was a servant, he cared more that she was beautiful and enchanting and he wanted to know her, if he could. It would be refreshing; getting a point of view on things that wasn't from someone like him, meaning another person from royalty. Sometimes it was sickening, how conceited people seemed to be. But now … now there was no way he could get that beautiful woman out of his head.
As soon as he had recovered a little bit from the experience of running into that stunning servant, he ventured out of his room to find Alice. He had to talk to her about this. If anyone could do something to help him, to help him figure out a way to meet this girl again, talk to her, it would be her. It took him a couple of minutes to find his sister, but when he found her she was walking down the hallway toward her room, and he stopped her in her tracks by placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Alice, I have something very important to discuss with you," he said to her seriously.
"It can't be more important than me getting my hair fixed, our little race has it all messed up and I need to fix it, so make it fast," she said to him, seeming like something was annoying her. It was probably because Sir Jasper was in the building, he always seemed to have a way of messing with the way she thought. It was cute, really, and the both of them had absolutely no idea that they were destined for each other. But, of course, Edward wasn't going to be the one to ruin that surprise.
"Oh, yes, it can," Edward said to his sister, insisting that she take a few minutes to talk to him.
"Really? What could possibly be more important?" Alice asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"There's this girl I ran into … a serving girl, obviously, but she was the most beautiful thing – apart from my lovely sister here – that I have ever seen. I know … I know they're not supposed to interact with us and all, but I want to see her again. Badly. What do I do, Alice? I haven't gotten enough of her, the couple of minutes I was around her, well, I just need to see her again," he said to his sister, who's jaw had dropped throughout the course of his explanation of exactly why it was so important that they spoke at this particular moment.
Alice had to shake her head to clear her head for a moment. "Alright, that is definitely more important, but I do have to fix my hair, so come with me. We'll multitask," she said to him, smiling a little and then moved into her room, leaving the door open as they moved into her own personal bathroom.
"Are you going to take this seriously, Alice? This is involving a serving girl and quite possibly could end up screwing up the way everything works around here for a very good long time," Edward said to the girl.
"Oh, hush, Edward, everything is so life or death with you it's tiring," she said to him.
"Alice …," he said as she sat down in front of her mirror and raised an eyebrow at him before starting to work on fixing her hair back to her own standards.
"Edward … Let me speak. I know who gives all the servants the schedules for their different jobs, that's how I can make sure certain foods we like are made on certain days, and stuff. So … I am going to ask them to assign the same girl to whatever job she had yesterday, so that way you can 'accidentally' run into her at some point, okay? And! If you are still infatuated after a second day, I will side with you on your whole crazy idea of getting the servants to be allowed to be seen by us, okay?" she said, turning to look at Edward as she finished her hair.
"Yes! Thank you Alice!" Edward said, hugging his sister quickly, "And she was on laundry duty, for my clothing. Thank you, so much for this," he said to her, "You better go make sure that is set up now, so it's not too late …," he said, urging his sister to go talk to her contact, or whatever she chose to call the servant that scheduled the servants.
Hopefully, hopefully he would get to see that beautiful Isabella the next day. And maybe the same sort of feeling he had about her the day before would still be there, but if it wasn't, he was going to have to force himself not to be disappointed, but now, now he couldn't wait until the next day showed up.
So! I hope you like the taste of this Edward that I gave you. :) He's a very nice guy compared to some people in the castle ... ANYWAY! Leave me some love if you enjoy this story/enjoyed this chapter.